Yoga For Every Body: Making Yoga Virtually Accessible

What if yoga stopped asking you to earn your place and started meeting you where you already are? We sit down with Emily Anderson, a Pittsburgh-based yoga therapist and founder of All Bodies Welcome Yoga, to rethink movement through nervous system care, clear consent, and radical inclusion. No more “all levels” as code for bootcamp. No more stock-photo diversity without real access. This is yoga as a healing practice, not a performance.

Emily traces her path from sweaty power vinyasa to a therapeutic approach that brought amputees, pregnant students, folks with Parkinson’s, and people living with chronic pain into the same welcoming space. We talk through the nuts and bolts: writing honest class descriptions, modeling chair and mat versions side by side, and using opt-in systems for touch so consent is real, not performative. She shows how to teach poses by purpose—grounding, balance, ease—rather than by aesthetics, making yoga adaptable for disabled, fat, aging, and neurodivergent bodies without diluting its depth.

We also confront the culture around movement: diet-industry messaging, resolution season pressure, and GLP-1 ads that co-opt liberation language while selling shame. Emily offers a different path—building interoception and body trust, closing stress cycles, and treating somatic practice as preventative health. We dig into financial accessibility, from sliding scale policies to why corporate studios stay expensive while paying teachers little, and we spotlight Emily’s upcoming yoga therapy group focused on menstrual health and perimenopause.

If you’ve ever felt invisible in a studio, rushed by cues, or judged for your body, this conversation is a breath of fresh air. You deserve movement that honors consent, clarity, and choice. Listen, share with a friend who needs it, and then tell us: what would make movement feel truly safe for you? Subscribe, leave a review, and help more people find a yoga space that finally fits.

Show notes:

Trigger warning: this show is not medical, nutrition, or mental health treatment and is not a replacement for meeting with a Registered Dietitian, Licensed Mental Health Provider, or any other medical provider. You can find resources for how to find a provider, as well as crisis resources, in the show notes. Listener discretion is advised.

Resource links:

ANAD: https://anad.org/

NEDA: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/

NAMI: https://nami.org/home

Action Alliance: https://theactionalliance.org/

NIH: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/

How to find a provider: 

https://map.nationaleatingdisorders.org/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us

https://www.healthprofs.com/us/nutritionists-dietitians?tr=Hdr_Brand

Suicide & crisis awareness hotline: call 988 (available 24/7)

Eating Disorder hotline: call or text 800-931-2237 (Phone line is available Monday-Thursday 11 am-9 pm ET and Friday 11 am-5 pm ET; text line is available Monday-Thursday 3-6 pm ET and Friday 1-5 pm ET)

If you are experiencing a psychiatric or medical emergency, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.

Transcript

Framing Health Beyond Diet Culture

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Join us as we redefine, reclaim, and restore the true meaning of health.

Sponsor & Safety Disclaimers

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Let's dive into the tough conversations about mental health, nutrition, eating disorders, diet culture, and body image. This is Nourish and Empower. This episode is brought to you by Hilltop Behavioral Health, specializing in eating disorder treatment. Hilltop offers integrated therapy and nutrition care in one compassionate setting.

Meet Emily Anderson And Her Studio

SPEAKER_03 0:38

Visit www.hilltopbehavioralhealth.com because healing happens here.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week's episode of the Nurse and Empowered Podcast. Today we have Emily Anderson. She is a Pittsburgh-based yoga therapist who shares yoga via her online studio, All Bodies Welcome Yoga. Emily specializes in an accessible therapeutic style of yoga that encourages nervous system regulation and integrative mind-body wellness. Trigger warning for today's episode, we will be discussing movement, eating disorders, body image, race, and accessibility. Listener discretion is advised. This show is not medical nutrition or mental health treatment, and it's not a replacement for meeting with a registered dietitian, licensed mental health provider, or any other medical provider. You can find resources for how to find a provider as well as crisis resources in the show notes. Emily, thank you so much for joining us today. We love the conversation of movement. So we're so excited to have someone who can really bring their expertise to the table.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

Thank you. Thanks for inviting me here. I'm really excited. Oh my God, yeah.

From Power Vinyasa To Therapeutic Yoga

SPEAKER_03 1:51

Yeah, same here. And I feel like to start, we have to talk about how you came up with the name All Bodies Welcome Yoga and just some of the backstory that that led you to developing this yoga studio.

Naming All Bodies Welcome And Early Impact

SPEAKER_02 2:06

So I have been practicing yoga since probably like 2011. And in 2018, I was at that point where I've been practicing it really frequently. I wanted to learn more about yoga as a like expansive practice and not just the asana that I was doing in class. Asana means postures or movement in Sanskrit. So I did a 200-hour yoga teacher training that wound up being very like therapeutic focused. The trainer had a master's in psychology. So that was a big part of it was the mind-body connection. And that really opened my eyes. I had been doing mostly power vinyasa. Like I was getting hot and sweaty in most of my yoga classes. It was very vigorous. And when I first started teacher training, I was like, oh, I'll be teaching like power vinyasa, exercise-based yoga for plus-size people, like able-bodied plus-sized people. That was kind of the models that I had on the internet were other plus-sized yoga practitioners or teachers like Jessamine Stanley, Amber Carnes, who were very fit. Like they, you know, it was cool to see what they could do, like what they could do with their bodies. And as I started to teach, well, as I started to learn about the importance of like nervous system regulation, which like I was in my late 20s and no one had ever talked to me before about nervous system care and how integral it is in wellness. And I just started to think more holistically about how movement could be part of wellness in a way that wasn't focused on weight loss. I was already very much into body liberation and fat activism at that point. So I wasn't interested in weight loss culture. I wasn't interested in diet culture. And I was like, oh, I'm gonna be like a yoga teacher for people who want to practice that way, but be, you know, still a pretty vigorous style of yoga. And then the more I taught, the more I realized that that vigorous style wasn't quite exactly where I wanted to be anymore, and started thinking more about how I could show people who don't think of themselves as very fit or active that these modalities and these practices could be so beneficial for them. And so all bodies welcome just kind of developed out of me, wanting to let people know that like you didn't have to be flexible, you didn't have to be thin, you didn't have to be able-bodied. And it was very shocking, like how quickly people took me up on that offer. And when I started teaching at the end of like 2018, I had folks coming to my group classes who were amputees, who were eight months pregnant, who had Parkinson's, like you know, in in Pittsburgh, there wasn't a lot of offerings like that. And so I think just the name alone, people hear about like yoga is good for you, and sometimes their doctors are recommending yoga, right? Like stress management for flexibility, for mobility. But then when you look up what's available, and a lot of times it is like not just like fitness-based yoga, but like it's vigorous fitness-based yoga. That's what's the most popular, that's what keeps people want to exercise, right? So just being like the only for a while, I was probably one of the only people in town who was teaching a really integrative style. Yeah, it just really attracted a lot of people. And that was I was working as a contractor at the time, and then in 2021, I quit my corporate job and started teaching online and full time. So I've been self-employed since 2021.

Online Studios And Reducing Comparison

SPEAKER_00 6:14

You go, girl. Thank you. That's such a beautiful story. And I love that like you, I don't know what I don't know why, but like you even like even just knowing that like you said amputee, and it's just uh that to me is one of the most beautiful spaces that it shows that you have created to where people who uh don't have the ability to maybe do some of the poses. I mean, I see yoga poses and I'm like, I don't know, I can't make my body a pretzel. Like, I no, thank you. Like, I don't think I could do that, right? And so you being able to show people it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter what you have to where amputees are so comfortable coming to you. I don't know why that one hit my heart so much, but that to me is just like that was so beautiful that you have created such a welcoming space for everybody, and I love that.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Thank you. Yeah, it was, you know, people like put a lot of trust in like showing up. And I think that it helped that like I'm a fat woman. And so, like, if people were seeing my website or like pictures of me on like another studio site, like I look different than what people assume a yoga teacher is gonna look like. And I think that that gives people like a sense of permission that like maybe this will be different than what I assume yoga is going to be like.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Can I ask a personal question? Of course, yeah. It's the therapist in me. But I'm just curious, did it what did it take from you to be so vulnerable to put yourself out there in such a position here to make such a welcoming space, right? Because I don't know if it if it is a vulnerable place for you, but I know for some people it might be. So I'm just curious what that experience was like for you.

SPEAKER_02 8:04

Oh yeah. You know, I think I went through like like big evolution in my early 20s as I got exposed to body positivity and fat liberation. And for me, it just clicked. I was like, oh, this is all a scam. The diet industry, the beauty industry, the fitness industry, it's all a scam. It's all kind of built on like making you hate yourself. And I did, like, I was a teen, you know, I was a size 14 teen in the 90s. Like, I didn't fit into Hollister clothes, I didn't fit in the Abercrombie and Fitch clothes. I was very ashamed of my body for like no good reason, like just because of overculture, right? And like not being able to buy the stuff they're trying to sell. So, right, like this like evolution happened that for me was like very like radical and kind of like a light switch. I was like, oh, like I'm not bad, my body's not bad. So once like that, like the scams all became illuminated to me, I was just oh, like my body's great. Like I don't feel like particularly vulnerable or brave to be like, I'm fat. Like it's for me, it's very, very neutral. And I know for a lot of people, like it's that's a hard transition. Like it's a long and hard transition. I don't know what is about my my brain that was just like ah, you know, my particular neurodivergencies were like, I don't need to like hold myself to this standard anymore. So being happy in with my body most of the time just made it very easy to invite people to experiment with being happy in their bodies.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Wow, you must be a great yoga instructor. Because that was because like I just listening to you, I'm like, hell yeah, girl. So I just can't imagine, right? Like you creating this space once again where you're saying like it doesn't matter like who you are, like, come on in, let's do the damn thing. And knowing that for you, like you had to go through a certain journey to get to where you are. And I'm sure women are like at so many different places in their journeys to and coming to your studio, like it's probably such a wholesome experience for so many people.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

Yeah, I hope so. And you know, it's very cool like having an online space, like if my studio is online, and I think that people just feel so much more comfortable sometimes, like practicing from home. A lot of my students and my clients have chronic conditions, chronic pain. So there is like a level of accessibility from practicing from home. But I think takes some of the pressure off of like being in a room of strangers, like not knowing what to expect. And I think it like takes away some of like the ego, also, right? When you're in a when you're in a regular yoga class in person and there's someone doing like wacky acrobatic stuff, and you're watching them out of the corner of your eye, like it's hard not to compare or to judge, or to like try to keep up with the pace of the instructor that day. If maybe it's not, you know, however your body is feeling that day, if you're on your menstrual cycle, like there's so many millions of reasons why someone's pace they're setting isn't going to be a good fit for you. But when you're in person, there's a lot of pressure to like follow instructions, right? When you're at home and I'm saying move at the pace that feels good for you, right? Like people might actually take me up on that versus when they're in person and like, well, everyone else is doing it this fast, so I should do it that fast too.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

Yeah, that's such a good point because I know like yoga instructors will will always use the word practice, right? Like saying yoga, yoga is a practice. But I feel like from yoga classes that I've been to, which I've only been in person, even though you are trying so hard to focus on yourself and focus how your body feels and have that body attunement, like, yeah, like we're creatures of comparison. You can't help but look around at other people and see, you know, like the poses that they're doing and how far they're taking things. So I imagine, you know, just that that safe space that you create. And like you said, people are in their comfort safe zone, which we're seeing a lot in our work because we work with clients so much virtually. And I feel the same way as a dietitian. Like I love when clients are in their kitchen. And, you know, I think it's such like it creates just this different element where, you know, their home, they're in, you know, not that everybody's home is their safe space, but for a lot of people, their home is their safe space. And so, you know, we're able to kind of cross these walls that we would have never been able to prior to like the virtual world developing.

What Inclusive Classes Look Like

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Yeah. Yeah. So when you say that, like in your studio, it's a movement for all bodies, like what does that mean in practice? And what shifts can instructors and studios make to normalize the variation and to truly include disabled or chronically ill, aging, or neurodivergent bodies?

SPEAKER_02 13:17

So I think that everyone wants to be inclusive. Like, no one wants to be a studio that's like, we're only for the fit, the fit girlies over here, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

But the reality is, like, if you're going to be using yoga asana to teach exercise fitness classes, like you need to be clear about it. So I think the first thing studios can do is be really clear with their words. And if you want to say beginners welcome, if you want to say all levels, then you need to mean it. All like that's a big thing in yoga descriptions, right? All levels class. And number one, yoga is not a hierarchy. There is no being able to do a complicated asana or acrobatic asana does not make you advanced, right? Like that does not make you an advanced yoga practitioner in anyone's definition of it philosophically for a thousand years until the last hundred years. So, like, we have to, you know, address like yoga is so much more than just movement, first of all. And I think, you know, we think when someone says, I'm doing yoga, you think of a downward dog, you think of a sun salutation. Asana is just a very, very small part of what constitutes yoga as a practice. So I think, first of all, studios could get really wild with addressing that, right? Being like, this is a yoga asana class, or this is yoga as fitness class to create some more clarity for the general public to understand that this, you know, yoga is not Zumba, yoga's not Pilates, yoga is not calisthenics, it comes with a really rich cultural philosophical history behind it. That'd be my first point. But then when it comes to the inclusivity, I think being really clear with the words of what to expect in class, which is something that's really important for me, in my class descriptions, I tell you in advance there's gonna be seated standing, hands and knees laying down. And I'll tell you which parts can be done in a chair. So, like I always teach that my standing portions of class and my hands and knees portions of class can also be done seated in a chair. So for me, that means I'm like I'm switching back and forth between modeling both, which is a skill, and you can get trained in that. There's amazing yoga training programs like accessible yoga that will train you on how to model both. But I think that any general studio can tell people, like, you know, you need you need this level of fitness to enjoy this class. But I don't think that's a bad thing to set expectations for people because that stops someone who's maybe never done a yoga asana practice before in their life from showing up for power flow and thinking it's yoga, how hard can it be? And then they're doing burpees for 90 minutes, right? Like, because some of these classes are like incredibly intense, in my opinion. Um, so really clear descriptions, and then if you want to be teaching all levels or beginner-friendly or inclusive yoga, then like getting trained however you want to do it, there's lots of trainings out there now to know how to model poses in a variety of ways, how to adapt on the fly, which is hard. And I think there's like a different understanding of the posture that has to come in when you want to teach a variety of abilities. So it's not about how the postures look, but what muscles they're engaging or the energetic values of the pose, which is a little bit kind of like a level deeper than just anatomical, right? If you want someone to feel grounded in a pose or energized or you know, working on their balance, like there's lots of different things that poses can conjure up. And it's a little bit of like lateral thinking to be like, okay, someone who's standing is gonna feel grounded this way, but how can I bring in that grounding to someone who's seated? So it's a it's a different way of understanding the body, but I don't think it's impossible. And then um, I really think that studios could do a better job about how they're they intake their like participants beforehand. Have you ever been to a yoga class where they're like, if anyone in here is pregnant, or like if anyone has an injury, like please let me know, like at the beginning of class in front of everyone? I think is a wacky way to do to do disclosures. So for me at my studio, when someone signs up for class, it's like check off like, can you stand? Can you sit? Can you kneel? So I know in advance who's coming to class, what they need. I have a section like, do you have any recent illnesses or injuries that you need to tell me about? Has your doctor told you to avoid a certain movement? So instead of coming to class with like a script that I expect everyone else to conform to, like, I'm coming in ready to, you know, to adapt to who's in the actual room instead.

Language, Hierarchy Myths, And Clear Descriptions

SPEAKER_00 18:31

I feel like that should just be standard practice. I don't know. I'm not a yoga girl. So like you're saying all these things and you're talking about all the names, and I'm like, what is she saying? Like, I this is way outside my scope, but I'm so into this. But I just feel like bringing that before the class makes sense, right? It's almost like when you go to physical therapy, you're not just gonna show up and tell them then like what's going on. Like you're going to say beforehand, like, these are all the things that I'm dealing with, so you know what you're doing. I don't know. I just feel like that just seems like and I just love that you do that. It just makes so much sense.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

Yeah, because I think with yoga, yoga is unique in that there is like people coming to yoga like who wouldn't just show up for a weightlifting class, right? Like they're not gonna go to like a kettlebell class if they have, you know, a significant injury or they have a chronic illness. But people are told go to yoga. Yoga helps with all these different things, and it can help, but not if it's being taught like a kettlebell class. So I think studios need to make that distinction. Like, are we a kettlebell class? Which there are there literally are like yoga classes that are using kettlebells and hand weights, and that's great. Like, I mean, if that's what they want to do, they can do that. Yeah, but just like you know, being prepared that people are coming in because they're looking for something healing and they're told that yoga can be part of their healing, but then they need to make more informed decisions.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

Do yoga classes not typically have descriptions? Because I feel like if I was going to clearly not a yoga girly, because if I was going to a yoga class and I was thinking it's going to be this like zen, and then all of a sudden I'm doing burpees, I would walk right out. I hate a burpee. You could not catch me doing it. So I would be so upset if all of a sudden I walk in and I'm like, what the F is happening here and why am I doing a burpee in a yoga class? So is that like not typical for there to be a description for someone to know, or they walk in blind?

SPEAKER_02 20:30

I think that you know, some studios are really good about being detailed and supposed to studios are a little bit more vague, it's more vibes, right? It's like it's like power flow, it's like feel strong, feel warm, get the heart moving. And like that means a lot of different things to different people, yeah, right? Like a kind of a vague, like vibey description. So I think it just depends on the studio. Yeah, and I think that's also why there's like corporate yoga that's really popular because they have chains all over the country, and every class like is exactly the same. So you would just drop in, and this the brand the chain of yoga, you're gonna get this literally the same script every time. So they treat like you know, those teachers are taught to like literally recite a script on how they teach. So they're doing less adaptability there.

SPEAKER_03 21:24

Yeah. I'm wondering too, Emily, when it comes to like fitness and yoga culture, how have you seen movement spaces center around like thin, white, able-bodied individuals?

SPEAKER_02 21:41

Yeah, I mean it's sh it's just ubiquitous, right? That and I think sometimes we see set dressing in a yoga studio too, right? There's either like cultural appropriation that might happen where they're picking things that look exotic. They're you know picking up religious iconography. And maybe sometimes people are like engaging that really sincerely, but it's you know, I think that folks need to be really careful with just kind of cherry-picking things that look esoteric. So I think we see that happening, that whitewashing where it's being used more for vibes than sincere practice or sincere veneration. And you know what's interesting now is I feel like as the like rise of I don't know, like unsplot like all those like different like photo type bucket things you can put on your website. I'll see studios like using, I want to call it clip art, but it's not clip art, it's like stock images, you're right, they're using stock images of like people of different sizes and people of different races on their website, but that's not necessarily who's actually in the class. Like you can tell their stock images of just like I can find them too on Canva. On Canva, I can find those too. And I think that it's hard to separate because I think that diet culture and mainstream fitness culture is also just upholding whiteness and able-bodiedness and desirability in ways that are really hard to escape without a lot of intentionality. And I think that people tend to take thinner-bodied instructors or you know, and participants more seriously. I see that a lot too. I think I felt like I am talking about even as a teacher sometimes. Or people would be like, when I was a studio contractor, they'd walk in and be like, Oh, you're you're the teacher. I'd be like, I am the teacher. I also have that as a participant that I would come in, and people would assume either I had never done yoga before, or they'd be trying to like correct me for things that were clearly like not an ability, which is like my fat body is going to look different in a posture than a thin body. I have a lot more flesh in the middle. If I'm folded forward, it's not gonna look the same. And you know, some yoga studios do like touch like corrections or genocome adjustments. I have like a thin lady like push on my back one time. I was like, girl, there's like nothing's nothing can collapse here. Like this is just my body. Yeah. So I think that some instructors have gotten so used to only teaching thin people and like learning from their thin bodies that they don't know how to teach someone who doesn't look like them.

Intake, Consent, And Trauma-Informed Touch

SPEAKER_00 24:43

Can I ask a question for like guidance purposes, right? Because I think that's such a good point. And I'm wondering, because I I feel like how do I want to ask this question? Because yes, and how does it is it better for an instructor to err on the side of caution than not? And what I mean by that is, you know, is sometimes someone who's not as able-body or is in a different body or a larger body, uh, if they are ignored by the instructor in my aircraft, is that going to make them feel a certain type of way, right? So I could also see for an instructor, like, do they almost feel like they want to overcompensate by trying to work with that person in a different body? So they are like, okay, I see you, but then like it could hurt them. But if they don't do it, is that person going to be like, oh, you're not paying attention to me because I'm bigger? So what would you even say is like a good way, a good guidance for instructors to know, like, if they're stuck of like, what do I do to like be kind, but I don't want it to come off as judgmental. What would that look like?

SPEAKER_02 25:48

And that's very insightful because I absolutely think that that is the case too. And I think people know, like, if they're being ignored because they're not able-bodied, they're fat, yeah, they're in a room that's all white people except for them, like they know right when they're being overlooked. And I I personally am like a low corrections teacher in general. So like I don't teach postures that need a lot of like corrections because maybe they're really acrobatic and you could hurt yourself in them. And I also like don't care like how people's bodies look and things. Like, I cue pretty much all from what they're feeling, and I just don't really presume to know what they're feeling in their bodies. So I would say if you're in a yoga teacher who does like to do hands-on adjustments or hands-on, hand-on corrections, like, yes, like either do it to everyone or do it to no one. And of course, you should always be asking permission. And maybe like you start by asking, like, when you come over to someone to adjust, you say, like, what are you feeling right now? Or where do you feel it? Which I think is what can take physical yoga practice to another level. Is when you're getting people to notice proprioception and interoception, instead of you telling them what to feel, you're engaging with what how they feel. Now, some people are teaching to a room of like 30, 40 people, right? Like sometimes they're teaching huge classes where they literally can't circulate and engage with their students. So they're teach they're teaching more like essentially like a Zumba class, right? And then there's then it's a whole different type of like how much can you really engage with your students if you have that many people in front of you.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:38

So I think that teaching should be a conversation with your people in the room. If you all, if you especially if you do want to correct them. I don't, I mean, when I teach online, I'm not correcting anyone because I don't even see most of them without their cameras off. Yeah. And I think that's fine because like they're going to build more body literacy through consistent practice than I could ever do by touching them or trying to move their arms and legs and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

Yeah. It also makes me wonder, too, if like at the beginning of the class, if it's almost like who would like to be corrected and who wouldn't, or like if they're having a you know, while they're checking in almost like you do, like is that part of the questionnaire of like, do you want to be corrected or do you not? Because that might be an uncomfortable question to ask in front of a group of people as well.

SPEAKER_02 28:29

That is like an emerging conversation over the last, like I would say, like five or six years in yoga, like trauma-informed, is like picking up steam in yoga spaces. Like I'm one of my like mentors I'm learning from right now, his name is Dr. Sham. He's a yoga philosopher. And he was like, shouldn't trauma informed just be the norm? Like trauma-informed should be ordinary, like you know, especially under the world we live in, like everyone's a little traumatized. So, you know, yeah, shouldn't that just be the basis? But anywho, with the emergence of trauma-informed conversations in yoga, some people are doing like different ways of opting in, right? At first it was opting out, which puts the onus on the person who doesn't want to be touched, and now find like now it's like, oh, people should opt in if they want to be touched or adjusted or corrected. So there's things like people get little rocks or crystals. If you want to touch, put the crystal on your mat, or they make like little placards you can flip upside, you know, green for go, red for don't touch. So that is emerging, but I don't think it's everywhere, unfortunately, but it is like an emerging conversation happening and how to yeah, like not treat your students like they're all the same.

SPEAKER_03 29:50

Not that this is the the same setting that we're talking about, but as you both were talking, I was thinking about so I like to treat myself to get a facial a couple times a year. And I always go to like a massage place. And so I have noticed over the past probably year that I feel like their intake forms and like questionnaire that you fill out ahead of time has been more inclusive in terms of like what are you comfortable with, you know? And then, you know, of course they say things like dress to undress your comfort level and things like that. But I have noticed that even in like the pre-intake paperwork, more so. And, you know, I mean, everything we're talking about, right, when it comes to somebody's body and their personal space, like this is such a vulnerable experience. And so, of course, right, you're right that it's like, yeah, shouldn't trauma informed be the norm? But it's great to see that at least since it has not been the norm, that we are like seeing things move in that direction. And I've just I have noticed that when I like fill out that paperwork too. I love that. So, Emily, I'm curious then for people who have felt like they are not welcome in in fitness spaces, they felt excluded from movement spaces. What would you what would you say to them? What would be your advice to them?

SPEAKER_01 31:11

Like they haven't done anything wrong.

SPEAKER_02 31:13

Someone who feels excluded from movement spaces or from wellness or from yoga, you haven't done anything wrong. Like there is a lack of training and insight and willingness to understand from many, many practitioners. That's not a reflection on you or your body. Like that's someone else's problem pull stuff up. And I sincerely believe like your body has this natural inherent inclination to move and to express and to heal. And that's your right, like that's something like you have that like no industry can take away from you. So whatever you've experienced in the past sucks, right? Full stop, it sucks. It was unjust, it was unfair, but that doesn't have to define like what your personal relationship is going to be with your body and with movement moving forward. And repairing that can take a lot of time for sure, but you have so much power and so much agency when it comes to your body. We're not taught that from school, right? From childhood. We're told to sit still, to be quiet, don't cry. Don't cry is one of my big pet peeves. Like, you should cry sometimes. Crying feels good, it releases cortisol, right? Like, we're constantly being taught not to notice, not to feel, not to move our bodies unless it's in really specific, limited, pre-approved ways, usually for weight loss or for aesthetic changes. And the reality is, like the diet industry, the fitness industry, they need you, but you don't need them. Like you never have to go back into a gym ever again if you don't want to. You could still move and then love your life. Say it again, say it again.

SPEAKER_00 33:18

That was so good. I loved that.

SPEAKER_02 33:19

Yeah, yeah. Right? And for like that was for me, that was like the big change. And I go to a gym every week. I love my gym, I love my trainer, but like you don't have to work with anyone who makes you feel bad about your body or pushes you in ways you aren't comfortable. And we need this like relationship with autonomy. Like we are collective, but also like we need autonomy, and you know, diet culture is fundamentalism, right? It's telling you there's only one right way to be, one right way to look or act, and that's just simply not the way life really is. Yeah, and that's why I love yoga because yoga as a philosophy is always encouraging us to see reality, to notice truth. And like in my classes, we start every session like taking a little center and be like, what do I feel in my body? Good or bad. I really try not to use good or bad. And we say challenging or pleasant, right? Because we want to avoid challenging unpleasant stuff a lot, pain, stiffness, hard emotions, like shame, anger. But I think that avoidance comes from like all this like fundamentalist cultural stuff around us.

SPEAKER_00 34:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:41

So like I think like movement is a part of like a really big way of getting free, and diet culture is cutting us off from that. Like it's cutting us off from like inner true, like inner trust.

unknown 34:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:56

So oh, I love that quote so much. We're gonna have to find it and clip it because it was so good. Oh my god. But it's but it's true, right? Like, we don't need them, but with how everything is commercialized, with how everything is worded, right? Maggie and I even did an episode about hold on, uh brain. Oh, resolutions. I almost said a revolution. And it's like, no problem. And you know, you know, if we think about it, it was creepy, like that word is uh weaponized, that word is uh so negatively connotated that like we need to have a resolution to like be our best self, but like my body doesn't need to be different in order for me to be my best self, right? And so I think it's so true that they're doing everything in their power to make it seem like we need them, but no, no, they need us, and like it's not it's not a thing, and like wow, that was so good. I loved it so much. Thanks, that was just awesome. I loved it.

SPEAKER_02 35:53

Thanks, yeah. I think we're seeing it in real time, right? How the language of like activism and self-determination and inherent worth are getting resunned back into diet culture, right? Like, isn't every GLP1 injectable ad like you the best you ever? Like you're finally free. It's like it's just taking things that activists have been saying for like the last 70 years in the body world and being like, Yeah, like you're perfect the way you are. And also, would it be a little bit better if you lost 15 pounds and it's just like come on, yeah, like you know, and it's like it people want to feel good, people want to like be present in their bodies, and if we're only being offered ways to feel present in our bodies or being sold stuff or trying to conform, and it's not like true presence, it's not true freedom. 100% in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00 36:53

Yeah. So, question for you then. You know, in seeing all of the differences, you know, within the progression of yoga or, you know, the way that society talks about things, you know, when did you first realize and recognize that fitness and yoga spaces were not built for all bodies, right? And I guess when did you realize that it started to create that shift of being a little bit more welcoming?

Corrections, Consent, And Student Autonomy

SPEAKER_02 37:20

I probably like knew right away. I think you know, my first experience of yoga was actually doing a biggest loser DVD for weight loss yoga, right? So, like my introduction to yoga was always about first losing weight, and then when sometimes over that was like being more fit, being able to do these more and more complicated postures. So it was my initial experiences were never like like you're great as you are. It was always about aspiring to something, and it's I think it's great to have goals, right? Like it's great to have goals. Yeah, I have weightlifting goals. I like to eye weightlift, so like you know, I have goals, it's good to have goals, but yeah, it was always about kind of being the other, trying to move towards some ideal, right? So I feel like I was always aware, and then there was a shift in seeing like really that like online space of the early, like the late 2000s, early 2010s, where body positivity was starting to pop off and started to become more and more like a cultural conversation, where you saw people of all different sizes wearing bikinis and crop tops and doing yoga. And then for me personally, I think the more I got involved in like disability activism and understanding that, that there was this progression from like your body's only good if it's thin, to be like, you know, any fat body can be healthy. That was a big, you know, a turning point. Then I was like, oh, health doesn't really determine if you're a good person or not, or if you're valuable, like everyone deserves equitable treatment and access and good health care. So, and similarly, I think that my progression with that was with yoga too, where yoga was like, yoga has to look this way, and it's like, oh, I can be fat and do yoga that way, and then it's like, oh, I can be fat and do yoga however I want, and doesn't have to conform to anything, and that's what I try to create opportunities for with the people in my classes is that you don't have to show up happy, in a good mood, you know, feeling particularly fit or flexible. You can just be here, like just being here, the practice of being present, the practice of gently moving your body and listening to it is really the work of yoga, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_03 39:55

I know this wasn't something we we planned on talking about today, but I do have a question that let me think how I want to get it out. Because as you were talking about healthcare, what came to my mind was healthcare comes at a really high cost, unfortunately, right? And then I started thinking, I'm like, so does the fitness industry? I mean, like gym memberships, you know, different classes, things like that. I mean, sometimes I'm in disbelief at how, you know, how expensive sometimes like fitness and you know, fitness and movement culture can be. So I'm just curious if you could speak a little bit to that and like how you've seen that show up and evolve as well.

SPEAKER_02 40:36

Yeah, and you know, for me personally, I think like accessibility has to include financial accessibility. That's really important to me as a small business owner. And it's it's so an interesting. So in the yoga industry, most yoga teachers are contractors for studios, and sometimes those contractors are getting as paid as little as like$10 a class, right? So when I left the contractor industry, I was getting paid between$20 and$40 a class, depending on the studio. And that's the hour of teaching plus checking everyone in beforehand and cleaning up afterwards and commuting there and maybe paying for parking where you go. So just like want to set that scene that like yoga teachers are not getting very getting paid very much, but the money is going somewhere, and it's not necessarily like the little home studios, like or the little like you know, small and pop studios, yeah, but uh big corporate chain studios are charging tons of money and paying their instructors very little. The I saw that like the core power CEO makes like$500,000 a year, right? And they're at I think they pay their teachers$20 per session. So where is the money going? I mean, but for me, like I don't think yoga should be a luxury. That's not how it's been shared for a thousand years, it's been shared as a healing practice. So as a yoga therapist, where I'm working with clients one-on-one, it might be about living with you know, adapting yoga to chronic conditions, it might be about working through pain, physical or emotional. I work with folks on menstrual health disorders and adapting to perimenopause. So there's a lot, there's so much need, and like the healthcare industry is so costly for most of us in America, and wellness is so costly. And I think that the somatics can be a huge preventative wellness measure. When you have an attuned nervous system, you know how to close a stress cycle, you know how to bring regulation and peace back to your body, that sets off like a chain effect of wellness through you, right? Like there's a very direct connection between chronic stress and chronic inflammation to chronic autoimmune conditions, right? Anyhow. So for me, I have a no one turned away for lack of funds policy for my yoga classes. And that's never been an issue. Then I see clients on sliding scale, and I think people are I will I think I'm working with a lot of folks who are like going into private practice for themselves anyway, be it mental health care professionals and other types of alternative medicine providers where there's more adaptability in how you can charge just because you're not having to go through insurance. Then so we have like health care for all, these systems are like so exploitative, exploitative that it's easier to be outside of them. For me as a yoga therapist, if I work. Like an integrative health facility, I could build to insurance. But as private practice, I don't. I just do self-pay. So I get to do slide and scale and have a lot more adaptability.

unknown 44:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:11

And then in traditional yoga studios, they might have like a community class that's pay what you can, or totally free, or donation-based. And it's often where they put like new teachers to get experience, which I think is great. I think it's great to have charitable offerings for Yosuc classes, but also for me, it's just easier just to have like a have a way that people can access the class if they want to be there and they can't say it's not a big deal to me. But it's also built into my business, like that is not my primary like income stream necessarily. It's the you know, a drop-in. My drop-in yoga classes are not where I'm like focusing my business on in some ways.

SPEAKER_03 45:00

Yeah, I appreciate you speaking of that, just because as we were talking about accessibility, I was thinking like, right, like financial accessibility is a big piece of this too. And to see from both sides, right? That like, you know, and for you as the instructor and somebody who has gone through yoga training and has built your business, like it's also important that you have, you know, financial freedom in order to spend on things that you want to spend too. So yeah, I appreciate you speaking to it. Yeah, my pleasure.

Reclaiming Movement After Exclusion

SPEAKER_00 45:27

Yeah. Jess, do you have any other questions for Emily? Not a question. I just say you have a beautiful heart. Oh my god, I'm gonna cry. But you just you just think so. I'm the emotional one if you can't tell, but like you just have such a beautiful soul, and like you can just tell how much you really care about the work that you do and you take people into consideration, and like from such a lens that I don't think people look at enough. And I just thank you. You just you do like every time you speak, I'm like, wow, first of all, you're so smart, and second of all, like everything too, like you just have this way of speaking, and you have this way of like just being so like a loving, and it just it's just it it's a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_02 46:16

Oh, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I think it is part of my calling is just loved. Yeah, and I think that's a big thing coming from yoga philosophy and like the approach of yoga therapy is that like you are whole, you are good and enough, and it's different than how most of us grew up in like Western either theology or philosophy, right? Like many of us are told that we are incomplete, and there's an external something we need to like pursue to be complete. And what's really powerful about like the philosophy of yoga and like eastern philosophy in general is that the missing part is internal. And so the work in this life is to kind of go through that inner spiral and clear stuff out and notice what is true to you and what is gunking up the system, and like finding that inner self-love, that inner trust. Yeah, and then when we make decisions from that place, it's so powerful, right? When we make decisions, we take our actions from knowing we're loved, knowing that we're trustworthy.

SPEAKER_01 47:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:36

Yeah, thank you so much. I know we found you on Instagram, so would love for anybody listening if you could tell everybody where to find you, how they can get connected with All Bodies Welcome Yoga.

SPEAKER_02 47:48

Yeah, you can find me on Instagram at all bodies welcome yoga, and my website is also allbodieswelcome yoga.com, and I teach online three times a week, group classes. I also have free classes on YouTube, same handle, All Bodies Welcome Yoga. And right now I'm not taking any new one-on-one clients. My books are full, but if you're interested in one-on-one work, I have a wait list. And in the summer, I'm doing a special yoga therapy group program all on menstrual health and parent menopause that I'm really excited about. Again, really important part of Sigmatics that we are completely cut off from. And the Ayurvedic approach to menstrual wellness is so cool and integrative and empowering. And it just feels like essential education that none of us got growing up.

SPEAKER_01 48:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:47

So I'm excited to be sharing that program later this year.

SPEAKER_00 48:51

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 48:53

Amazing. Thank you so much. And we'll we'll make sure we we tag your socials and everything too, so people can get connected with you.

SPEAKER_00 49:00

Yeah. Great. Thank you. Well, thank you everybody for tuning in today. And thank you, Emily, again for being here. We loved having you. And we will catch everybody on the next one. Bye, guys. Bye. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Nourish and Empower Podcast.

SPEAKER_03 49:19

We hope this episode helped you redefine, reclaim, and restore what health means to you.

SPEAKER_00 49:26

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